High Score
by StartingWithSugar
Summary: It was easier to hide behind the buff animated figure and bark at the faceless 'Tomat0' then to face Sasuke in her hoodie and jeggings and admit to him that the girl he's in love with is the same girl whom he wants dead.
1. Points

Sakura scrunched her nose in frustration as she pulled the spring back again, freeing her hand only to return it quickly to the small red knobs on either side of the machine.

"SAKKURRAA!" I complained, leaning against the side of the pinball machine lazily. Her eyes didn't leave the little chrome ball but she replied anyways.

"Seriously, I'm 200 points away from beating the high score. Just give me like, 4 seconds," she bargained, smashing her small finger into the button and cursing under her breathe. How is it she has to concentrate this hard? I mean, it is pinball, right?

"It's been four seconds," I quipped, grinning cockily. She narrowed her eyes, but they still followed the game.

I glanced down at my large blue shoes for a moment during the silence, momentarily contemplating if I should get different colored laces. White's so boring, you know? I mean, orange would be cool, and it would match my coat. Not that I really care if it matches, but maybe it would clash…what does that even mean? When colors 'clash'? Like, do they start fist-fighting each other or something? Or is it more like a car crash, where they just like slam into each other? I feel like it's more deliberate than that, though. If orange were a car, what type of car would it even be…?

Sakura's loud yell ripped my previously derailed train of thought completely off its tracks. I jumped at her sudden outburst.

"I beeeaaaat it, I-I beeeaaaat it, oh, I beeaat it," She began to sing, dancing as she did so. She spun in a circle and starting humming some random beat before twirling her outstretched pointer fingers around whilst pointing at the high score screen of the game.

"In yo face, US," she grinned as the old high score, made by 'US', moved down to number 2, "Guess what? You're not standin' for American pride no more! Aww yeah, I said that." She was still dancing, so I just pushed off the machine and twirled the keys around.

"Can we go now?" I whined, glancing at the machine and the flashing "NEW HIGHSCORE: SMH". It just now occurred to me that I've never really found out Sakura's middle name. Probably something super American, considering her first and last name are sorta Asian. I mean, mine are too, but my mom was half Asian, so, I have a reason. Ha.

"I suppose," Sakura finally responded, grabbing her water bottle off the floor and taking a swig from it. She sighed in satisfaction.

"What a productive last day of winter break." She was still smiling as the cold air rushed around us upon our exit. She hastily pulled her ski-hat down further before stuffing her hands into her hoodie's pockets.

"Sakura, all we did was play arcade games. All. Day," I said, zipping up my large orange coat. She was still smiling, despite my jab.

"So. You still had fun."

"Nyeeehh," was all I responded. It's not that I didn't, it's that after Sakura and I had run down all the tokens on DDR and Air Hocket, she decided she wanted to, and these are her words, not mine, 'rekindle her love affair with pinball'. Clearly, their love was reunited.

"So, I lied," Sakura said, throwing her hands out of her pockets, then quickly back in, "pinball and I's love never really died down. I've always loved it, and always will," she decided, looking up at the sky as she said so. I chuckled and unlocked my car.

Ah, my car. I love this thing. First of all, I bought it with my very own money, first thing ever I didn't have to dip into my parent's copious amounts of money to buy. I figured, anyone who has a superficial opinion of me-that is, thinks I'm a dishrag who rides off my dad's money and influence to buy AWESOMETASTIC blue shoes-will think I'm doing this to convince people I'm not. Which is exactly why I am doing it. Ironic, I know. (At least I think that's irony. I don't know, English is my doodling class...)

Also, it's a white Toyota Selica. Granted, it's 10 years old, but it runs fine and still looks super hot ;].

Yeah, so, anyway, I love it. My eyes flicked over to Sakura for a moment, then back on the road. She was staring out the window, thinking about something. She does that a lot. Not like I don't, but, like, she thinks about stuff that normal people don't way too often. She just goes off into her own little world, staring at her reflection in the window and pondering life. Makes me wonder what she's thinking so thoroughly about.

"Hey, Sakura?" I asked hesitantly, still looking out the front window, "What'cha thinking about?"

She turned her head to face me, her short hair barely moving due to the fact the hat was holding it down. "I don't know. Stuff. Like, I need a car. Seriously."

"Seriously?"

"Seriously."

I grinned. "You don't want to keep getting rides from me? Besides, do you even have a license? Are you allowed to drive with that sort of temper?" Her eyes widened for a moment, then she crossed her arms.

"I'd punch you, but I'm too proud. You're wits coming along nicely," She said the last bit with an old-man voice. I chuckled as we pulled up to her house.

"Well, here we are," I added un-elegantly. The corners of her mouth quirked upwards again.

"You totally just ruined the epic flow of that conversation."

"Oh, dearest me, I'm sorry," I feigned guilt by putting my hand dramatically on my chest. She nodded.

"Perhaps you should be," Sakura stuck her tongue out at me then smirked and opened the door.

"See ya," I called after her. She was already sprinting to the door in the cold air, but she waved backwards to acknowledge that she had heard me. I shook my head fondly and moved the shift back into 'drive'.

…

-SAKURA-

"No. Shit, no. No! Stop and frickin' listen to me! You need to go back into that hallway because there's another guy in there," I finally managed to get out what I needed to say once Tomat0hn's character had stopped moving. I heard a grunt from my headset.

"Cherry, I'm leading," was all the male voice said, and I scoffed in response.

"Doesn't matter, we're never going to beat this level if you don't get the enemy in the hallway," I tried to explain, muttered under my breath as I pressed down on the controller's buttons and jumped behind a wall.

"Puppet," Tomato addressed 'Puppet-Master', "get the person in the hallway, please, so Cherry will shut up."

"On it," replied a different, still male, voice, as I watched the character with 'Puppet-Master' above its head scurry into the mentioned hallway. I groaned and shifted my position so my elbow could rest on my knee.

"Oh my god, Cherry and Tomato, if you guys stopped fighting for alpha for like 7 seconds we could actually get something done," a new voice called, still with the deeper tone of a male.

"We get plenty done," I defended, ducking behind another wall after a swift movement of my thumbs, "when I'm leading." I could hear Tomato scoff.

"What about yesterday?"

"It's a long level, seriously. There's no way we could've finished it in one day," I shot back, trying to maintain that the level we were currently on, and had been on since yesterday, was not done simply because it was long and not because of a lack of leadership. Because it wasn't, and I'm a perfectly adequate leader. Better than Tomato.

"Well, where were you for all of today?" 'DestinyAwaits' responded, the one who originally chastised Tomato and I.

"Having a life, dickhead," I mumbled, though I'm not sure he heard it. Truthfully, I had just gone to an arcade to play MORE video games, but I beat US's high score at pinball. Heheh.

"Sakura," I heard my mother's voice flow into the living room from the atrium. I uttered a quick "hold on" into my headset before muting and yelling back, "in here, mom." Her heals clicked loudly against the wooden floor as she entered the living room.

"You know, when I got a daughter, I never thought I'd see the day when I had to tell her to 'get off the couch and go take a shower," She scolded, setting her purse down on the couch. I wiggled my finger distractedly at my mom, not moving my eyes from the TV.

"Now mother, don't be sexist. Women can be lazy too," She smacked her forehead as she ruffled through her purse, "besides, I took a shower this morning." I ignored whatever my mom was about to say as I unmuted the headset.

"Destiny, could you please play lookout for me? I'm gonna go into this manhole," I asked, waiting for the familiar faceless voice to respond with a yes. Once I watched the character run up behind mine, I pressed the buttons down in a strategic order and the cartoon manhole's lid flew open, allowing my character to jump into the vacant spot.

"Cherry, you don't need to do that," Puppet noted, and although he couldn't see it, I furrowed my eyebrows and responded with a, "whhhyyy?"

"Because Tomato—oh, shoot. I gotta go. My roommate just got home and he's yelling about exploding things again," he started, then finished, as a line of text appeared on the bottom of the screen saying "Puppet-Master HAS LOGGED OUT." I wasn't really sure what exploding things had to do with leaving the game, but I didn't like to ask about people's personal lives.

During the momentary pause in the conversation, my mom snapped her fingers in my face.

"Sakura!" She said, shaking between her thumb and forefinger, "go get something to eat! I have some work to do."

"But Naruto just went home, Mom, and in case you forgot, I DON'T HAVE CAR!" I reminded her, covering the microphone part of my headset with my hand. She sighed.

"Then c'mon. Let's go pick up some fast food." I sighed and jumped out of the animated manhole, watching as the 'loading' screen flashed across my TV.

"Alright. I have to eat," I said, pausing the game and scrolling to the 'log out' option. I heard a quiet goodbye from Destiny and waited momentarily for some sort of reply from Tomato.

"Now we can actually start," I heard him say. I'm sure he was smirking. I could _feel _it emanating from the headset.

"Fuck off, Tomato," I ended, ignoring my mom's reprimanding glare. I watched the text "CherryChapstick28 HAS LOGGED OUT" appear at the bottom of the TV before the whole thing faded to black and I leaned across the coffee table to turn the X-box off.

...

-NARUTO-

It was the first day back after Winter Break, which meant everyone was wearing their new clothes and flashing their new shoes everywhere. I sat at a table with Kiba, staring in awe at his new phone.

"You can even like, talk to it and stuff," he bragged, holding his phone up to his chin. He held his finger up to stop me from asking questions.

"Find Naruto's house." The phone changed screens into a map, showing the way from the school to my house.

"How'd it know where my house is?" I asked, more than a little creeped out. I can't be the ONLY Naruto in the world, right? Right?

"Because you're in my contacts, dude," he replied, his fingers moving rapidly across the touch screen. I relaxed.

"This seat taken?" asked an Asain kid, probably a Junior like me. He had jet black hair, spiked up in the back, and his dark eyes revealed no sense of modesty, considering sitting with Kiba Inuzuka, quarterback, and Naruto Uzumaki, Wide-receiver, was practically forbidden. But what do I know of modesty?

Kiba waved at the seat in a distracted way, "No, I don't care. But I'm not gonna talk to you," he mentioned, still engrossed in his phone.

"Hn." Was all the dude replied. Wow. What a bastard.

"You uh, you new?" I offered, trying to find an explanation for this strange Asian nerd randomly sitting at our table.

"Not that it's any of your business, but I'm a transfer student from Kyoto," he explained, his eyes glancing around the cafeteria. Upon seeing my confused face, he added, "that's a city in Japan."

I mouthed an 'ah' after he explained, "I was homeschooled for the first semester. That's how I speak English so well. Idiot." I also chose to ignore that last bit.

A bouncy blond strolled up to the table, her heals clacking as she came, giving her away almost immediately. She sat down next to Kiba.

"Hey babe, so, I'm breaking up with you," She announced, stealing one of Kiba's fries. His eyes scanned her for a moment before he registered what she had said.

"Um, what?"

"It just, wasn't working out," she said quickly, kissing him on the cheek and giving him a symphathetic look, "but you can still come to my party Friday. Spread the word," she added.

Kiba groaned. "Ino...I'm not going to your fucking party to watch you hook up with another guy to get my jealous. Just…go be a whore elsewhere," he said, waving his hand around the cafeteria. She pouted.

"I wouldn't do that, babe, you know that. That's totally against the rules of break-ups."

"Get the fuck away from me, Ino," He said into his hands, groaning again. She frowned and flounced away, but not before winking at the newcomer. He simply raised an eyebrow.

"Who the hell—" he started, almost annoyed. I cut him off before Kiba could.

"That's Ino Yamanaka. Captain of the cheerleading squad, always wears short skirts, and pretty much a bitch. Also, Kiba's on again off again whore—er, I mean girlfriend," I explained deliberately, smirking at Kiba's glare.

"Dude, she's a ten, anyway. Tens are always bitchy, but their worth the points," I tried, trying to snatch his phone. He smacked me. The Asian raised his eyebrows again.

"Unlike Seven's, huh? Dude, Sakura's so not worth it man," he tried again, relapsing back into old Kiba after recovering quickly from the breakup.

"I've told you 1000 times, Sakura's not a bitch, and she's more like a 9. So she's so worth it, or would be, if I'd ever gotten anywhere. She's more than worth it. She shouldn't even be in the point system—" Kiba put his hand out to stop me.

"Chill, dude. I got it. Speaking of which, where is your hotheaded companion today?" He interrupted, still ignoring the newcomer's confused looks. Kiba said he wasn't going to talk to him.

"Eh, she said something about 'Tomato' not being there today for some reason, and then she started grumbling about people being bastards. Whatever that's supposed to mean. I swear dude, she's more obsessed with that X-Box than you—"

"What?" The Asian newcomer spoke up finally, staring at me with wide eyes.

"Sakura's my best friend. She skipped out because she wanted to play a video game. What, skipping class too scary for an Asian?" I asked. So, that was a little mean, but this dude was kind of annoying. Just saying.

He cleared his throat before glaring at me and saying, "Tomato?"

"One of her online friends or something. Ugh, I swear, she's like, in love with him or something because she will not. Stop. Talking about him."

"She keeps calling him a bastard, dude," Kiba put in, furrowing his eyebrows.

"She still talks about him," I grumbled, crossing my arms.

"What uh, What game is she playing?" The newcomer asked. How nosey.

"Hell if I know. Some shooting thing," I said dismissively, picking at my now-cold burger.

"And she has an online 'friend' named Tomato?" he continued. I looked at him, annoyed.

"Yes, dude, are you like retarded or something?"

"Shut up, dobe. And my name's not dude, it's Sasuke."

"Sasuke, you're a bastard, you know that?" There was a long silence, in which he didn't reply, nor really planned to, I presume, because he didn't seem to pay any attention to my snide remark.

"How many usernames do you think say 'Tomato' on them?" he mused, stirring his soup around with a spoon. Kiba shrugged.

"Why do you even care? Probably a good amount," Kiba narrowed his eyes, clearly just as annoyed with the bastard as I was.

"Hn," Sasuke replied. And I that was that.

…


	2. Taking seats

**Hey, I'm glad you guys liked the first chapter (: **

**Two things, though:**

**-I do have a tendency to rush my stories. However, do not think that it will not include twists and turns, therefore lengthening it in a hopefully entertaining (and not simply annoying) way. When I went back and checked the first chapter (somehow missing the "Air Hocket" part. I'm a derp) I did think it was a little confusing, but I think it will make more since as the storyline evolves.**

**-Sorry I didn't say this before: Yes, they are in America. Doesn't really matter what city or even state, just know that it's a standard sized-town; not small, not New York. Sasuke, as he explained, is from Kyoto. I'm not really sure how often transfer students like that get home-schooled, but Sasuke's rich, so just go with it.**

…

**-SAKURA-**

"Sakura," Naruto said accusingly, "you can't skip two days of school. The first one, okay, maybe you were still on vacation, but c'mon. Don't leave me alone."

I raised my eyebrows. Seriously, NARUTO was telling me to go to school? Oh, how the tides turn.

Besides, it's not like we do anything during the first two days after winter break. Even the teachers are too tired. And it's not like I'm failing or anything—I'm in the top 5%, give me some credit. I just have my priorities.

Nonetheless, I sighed and stood up begrudgingly, grabbing my satchel from my desk chair on my way up.

"Fine. I'll just stick a hat on or something."

…

So, I walked into AP Chemistry this morning, and there was a person in my seat. Not just a person—and adolescent young man of Asian descent. I was a little confused at first, staring at the guy, thinking, 'Okay, I know we've been off for two weeks, but I think I would've remembered if he were in my class.'

So, I walked over to him to inform him that he was in my seat.

"Hey," I said, swaggering over to him. His eyes flicked up to me and my face lit up like a giant red Christmas light. However, he didn't say anything and his hands remained at his chin.

"So, yeah, um, you're in my seat," I struggled, trying to avoid his eyes. I'm not the swooning type, and his eyes weren't particularly intoxicating, it's just that they were staring _right at me. _Like, _into my soul_ or something. It was a little creepy, to be honest.

It didn't help that he was astonishingly good-looking.

"And?" He replied, raising his eyebrows. I think he's challenging me. I crossed my arms.

"For real? You're doing this during first period on a Tuesday? Just let me sit down," I tried, gesturing uselessly at my occupied seat. He smirked.

"There are 33 seats in this room. 27 of them are currently occupied, and there are 30 students, including us, in this class. I'm sure you've been here before and therefore know where the missing 3 students sit and can pick one of the other 3 where no one sits." I blinked and pursed my lips.

"Do you want me to sit on you?" I replied, moving my hands to my hips

"How archaic. Just sit in one of the open seats," he said, gesturing around the room.

"Alright, since you've got such a keen eye of observation, why don't you sit in one of the open seats, and I'll sit where I usually do," I responded, leaning my head back in frustration.

"There aren't assigned seats. Explore your options a little," he suggested, resting his hands on his chins.

I groaned as the bell rang.

"The bell just rang. The class is about to start. Get the fuck up," I tried to finish. He shook his head, still smirking.

"Just because you added unnecessary words doesn't mean it's going to change my stance."

"Mrs. Yuuhi is going to get mad at us."

"I really think 'us' is more than likely 'you'."

"I beg to differ. You're in my seat."

"'My' as in assigned to you by her, or 'my' as in you proclaimed it as your own and cannot share?" He asked, raising his eyebrows again.

"'My' as in move!" I flailed my arms frantically. The boy opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted.

"Sakura and Sasuke, please, leave your drama at the door. Sakura, find an alternative seat, and get to class earlier tomorrow," Mrs. Yuuhi, the teacher, called. The chalk in her hand began flying across the front board as I trudged to my seat.

…

** -NARUTO-**

"Sakura!" Called Kiba, swaggering over to the table in the typical Quarterback fashion, "You're back!"

"Your insincere care means a lot to me, Kiba," She said, eating one of my fries as she stared across the cafeteria. I furrowed my eyebrows.

"What'cha lookin' at, Sakura?" I quieried, leaning over to her side of the table to see if I could figure it out. She shook her head.

"Nothing. Just—tired, I guess."

"But you didn't go to school yesterday," Kiba wondered aloud before taking a bite of his hamburger. Sakura shrugged.

"I didn't sleep in yesterday. I had stuff to do." Kiba shrugged and took another bite of his hamburger.

"Oi, Kiba," Sakura said, suddenly remembering something, "Sorry to hear about you and Ino…again."

Kiba shrugged. "I'm not that bothered by it. She just wants to fool around some with that Shikamaru kid," he said, shaking his head, "I don't get it, though. Look at him. He's like, 40 pounds."

Sakura and I neglected to look, instead, my eyes followed Sakura's to our newcomer from yesterday, Sasuke. Oh no, Sakura, don't fall for his deceiving good looks.

I cleared my throat, breaking her eye contact with him. "Sakura, this is, um—"

"—I'm well aware of who this is." I raised my eyebrows again at her malicious tone. I guess she met him before…?

"Do you guys have something together?" Kiba asked, clearly catching the ominous aura. Sakura closed her eyes.

"Chemistry." My face furrowed. What the hell happened? First she's all, 'oh, I know who this is, and he's a dick-face,' to, 'oh yes, we have chemistry! Tee hee hee!' Like, seriously, how did Kiba NOT catch that? He's eating his lunch like Sakura didn't just tell him they practically had sex already!

"The class, Naruto, my god. I just met him first period," She replied, shaking her head and stealing another one of my fries. Sasuke was smirking at my now-calming features.

"I see you found a seat this time," Sasuke said, eating one of his the numerous tomatoes off his plate. Seriously, who brings a bag of tomatoes for lunch? And um…what?

"And you found your own, although you failed to find your own table," Sakura replied. I smacked her hand as she tried to take another fry.

"Naruto," She turned to me, "First of all, do you want me to starve? Secondly, why are you sitting with this dick-face?" Ah, I like that tone of voice more than her saying they had Chemistry. Plus, this dude is kind of a bitch, so I'm glad we're on the same side.

"I don't know, he just sort of sat with us," I offered, shrugging and turning to Kiba. Kiba also shrugged and replied, "We thought, 'why not'?"

His voice trailed off as his eyes followed something else across the cafeteria. "Excuse me, I have some revenge to exact." And with that, he was gone. Sakura was about to swing her chair to that side and complete the circle when a red-head came and plopped down nearly on top of Sasuke. Both Sakura and I widened our eyes.

"Karin," Sakura said, smacking her forehead, "Why are you here?"

"I'm not here to talk to you, Pinky," was all she said before turning to Sasuke. "So, you want me to show you around school or something?" Sasuke's eyes didn't move from his stack of tomatoes.

"An office-aid already did," He replied bluntly. Karin jutted out her lower lip.

"Which office-aid? It was probably a ditz."

"Don't know, don't care. I know enough to get to class. Now run along," Sasuke suggested, waving her off. Man, he could've let her down easy.

"Well," Karin said, batting her eyelashes, "you should come to cheer-leading practice this afternoon, if you want to get into the life of Konoha High. Just watch, it's really a lot of fun."

Sasuke continued to look at his food. "That sounds like the last thing I want to do. Ever." Sakura laughed as she drank her water bottle, causing her to have to stop drinking and wipe her face a little with a napkin. Sasuke smirked.

"Fine, well, have fun sitting with losers than," She said, strutting off and turning around every so often to see if Sasuke was watching her leave. He was not.

"That was wonderful. I may have misjudged you," Sakura said, sitting back in her seat, "But take note of the 'may', please. Don't get to high up on your horse."

"Not like a compliment from you means anything, anyway," Sasuke said, chomping a little more of his tomato. I narrowed my eyebrows.

"What? Too good for compliments?" I said, crossing my arms. He shook his head.

"Hn."

…

**-SAKURA-**

Once it had been established that Sasuke may be a TRAINABLE jerk, I literally had to murder any thoughts that he was attractive. Especially since he was VERY attractive.

See, because he's new meat, and his face is so gorgeous, every girl in the school is going to be having sex with his every step until he notices them. And, I'm not a lesbian, but there are more than enough girls in the school to keep him satisfied without ever having touched me. So, why would he ever go for me?

Thus, I should never go for him.

So, as I fought the urge to decide exactly _what_ color black the back of his head was (as it was discovered we also share the same Pre-Calculus class), I bit down on the end of my pencil.

"What's your name again?" He suddenly asked, whirling around while Mr. Hatake was still writing the next equation on the board. I mentally cursed myself; of course he doesn't remember my name.

"Sakura," I replied lazily, trying to pretend I was watching the board. He nodded.

"Aa, that's right. Like the hair. Is that why you dyed it like that?" I opened my mouth to respond, but he shrugged and turned around before I could.

For the record, I do NOT dye. It's an odd recessive gene that—you know what, forget it. It's just not dyed, okay? DO YOU SEE ANY ROOTS?

"Why are you such a jerk?" I asked from behind him, scribbling the example as I did.

"Why are you so annoying?" He whispered back, also writing. I scrunched up my face in annoyance.

"I rest my case."

"As I rest mine."

"Now you're just paralleling my sentence. Who's annoying now?" I said angrily, not even attempting the problem I had just written down. Sasuke, on the other hand, was frantically moving his arm.

The bell rang as the teacher explained to finish the problem for homework, as well as the problem numbers I had written down at the beginning of class. Sasuke shook his head.

"Hn."

"I—what?" I replied, not sure if he was talking to me. Or if I heard him right.

"I said, 'hn'." Guess so.

"What doesn't that mean, though?" I asked, throwing my binder into the red satchel. Sasuke looked at me with a blank expression before turning on the ball of his heal and exiting the classroom.

…

"Tomato, cover me, would you? I'm about to jump in."

"I'm coming with you," he responded. The voice sounded oddly familiar, but I put it in the back of my head.

I groaned. "Fine then, Puppet, could you please be cooperative?"

"I—ugh, sure. You know, I'd like to do something sometime."

"Maybe after you quit dying," responded Destiny. I smirked.

"You're one to talk," I quipped. I could hear Destiny mutter 'tch'.

"As are you. Hurry up and get in before the enemies arrive," Tomato said before I followed his character into the tunnel. I ignored the jab.

"What, scared you can't take them on your own?" I replied, re-positioning the controller in my lap.

"Well you were the one that wanted too. Frankly, I think this is annoying and pointless." My mind blanched as he said 'annoying' when a weird déjà vu went over me, but I shook it off and swallowed another bite of pizza.

"You're seriously a jerk," was all I said before reaching for my root beer again.

"And you're annoying."

"Guys, you're about to die," Puppet noted. I set the root beer down quickly and my hands flew back to the controller.

…

I almost fell out of Naruto's car as soon as the shift slid next to the 'P'. I nearly sprinted across the parking lot, through the front door of the school, and into the hallway until I reached the Chemistry classroom which was successfully empty. I smiled at myself, strutting to my familiar chair and setting my luggage down.

"Sakura! You're here earlier," Mrs. Yuuhi remarked, startled upon her entrance into the classroom.

"Yeah, well, beats sitting in the cafeteria waiting for the bell to ring!" I replied, shrugging and throwing my hands in the air. She gave me a skeptic look before plopping the folders she was caring unto the table.

"So, um, Kurenai—" Mr. Sarutobi had walked in at that moment, but stopped abruptly when he saw me. There was a moment of awkward silence, during which I moved my eyes between him and Mrs. Yuuhi before he cleared his throat.

"Sakura. I um, er, good morning," he struggled awkwardly, running his hands through his hair. I mumbled out a returned greeting before pretending to be engrossed in the book I was reading.

Finally, the bell rang and students began to trickle in. One of the first was Sasuke, whom glared at me when he noticed the seat I had decided to occupy.

"What? I was told to get here sooner today," I noted as he walked past me. He sat in the desk one up and to the left of me, still glaring as he threw his bag on the flat table.

"Alright, everyone in their seats today?" Mrs. Yuuhi spoke as the bell rang, looking specifically at Sasuke and I. His eyes shifted back to look at me, this time blank.

After a grumbled response from the class, she began. "Alright, because it's a new semester, I'd like to assign new lab partners. No," she started at the raising hands, "you may not pick. Two to a group. Girls will draw from the hat of guy's names, and the two girls left will be partners. Any questions?" No one spoke up, either too tired to care or nervous at the idea of meeting new people.

Mrs. Yuuhi navigated throughout the room, leaving either thinly-veiled excitement or dread on the faces behind her. Finally, the black baseball cap hovered over my desk.

Okay—I think someone already got Chouji, seeing as Hinata kept glancing nervously at him. Ino has Shikamaru (she must've rigged it), because she was already sitting on his desk twirling her hair. Tenten was glaring dreadfully at hers, then showed it Neji, who proceeded to smirk, so I had to assume Tenten had Rock Lee and Neji was yet unpicked. No one seemed to have Sasuke yet—someone would be sitting on his desk, being an Ino.

I closed my eyes, mentally crossing my fingers and chanting "not Sasuke", and when my hand re-emerged with a small fortune-like slip of paper, I chuckled sarcastically.

What kind of cosmic joke is this?

Sasuke turned around and raised his eyebrow curiously, either intrigued by my sadistic laughter or bemused that I seemed to be unsettled by it.

I turned the slip of paper around, and his arrogant smirk faded. His head snapped back forwards and he pretended to be flipping through some notes.

"Alright. Ami and Kin, you'll be partnered. Everyone else, partner up and I'll explain the first lab," Mrs. Yuuhi announced, pulling the projector down and returning to her computer to pull something up.

I gathered my stuff to move up one seat, next to Sasuke. Neither of us said anything as we waited for the assignment to be told.

I guess being with Sasuke wouldn't be so bad—I mean, he's Asian, so he has to be sorta smart—I assume he can do some work. I just don't want to be around him any more than I have to be; spending time with him outside of school may trick me into thinking something may be possible. Also, he's still a jerk.

"So you'll need to spend some time together outside of school to ensure this project gets done. All clear?" Mrs. Yuuhi finished, her finger falling from its place of pointing at rubric. I smacked my head and and it slid onto my desk. This was going to be a long semester.

"Hey," Sasuke said, flicking my ear. I turned my head to glare at him. "This is my address. Be there after school and we'll decide on an idea. Might as well get this done as soon as possible," he remarked, not looking at me as he spoke. I nodded silently and took my slip of paper back. The front, which displayed 'SASUKE UCHIHA', had a number written underneath it, and the back had an address.

"And don't," he concluded, "text me if 'you're bored'. Only for Chemistry purposes." I opened my mouth to ask another question, but he guessed it first.

"No, I will not answer you're Pre-Cal Questions if you text them to me."

…

**I realize this story doesn't seem to be doing much right now, for which I apologize. I'm really trying to set some things up for now. **

**Also—the story will probably be dominantly narrarated by Sakura, I just wanted to try Naruto for a while to see if I could build his character a little better. I may switch to Sasuke at some point, but that'll reveal some things I'd rather the reader find out with Sakura. (No, it's not that Sasuke is Tomato. That was pretty much revealed with the summary.)**

**Review please! (:  
><strong>


	3. Secrets keep you safe

**OH MY HOLY SHEET. I'm so sorry this is so terribly late. Like, REALLY late. Like, SO LATE I'm sure most of you abandoned me.**

**However! For those of you who haven't: Thanks! I will try my hardest to update more often, but I wouldn't look forward to them like weekly. Bi-weekly, maybe? I know 14 days is a long time to wait, for which I really am sorry. **

**Please, R&R, and again, I'm sorry.**

* * *

><p><strong>-NARUTO-<strong>

"Kiba, dude, I don't care. Karin's easy anyways."

"Have you?" Kiba made a few vulgar motions with his hands and fingers, at which I cringed away, "with her?"

"Kiba, I—no, hell no, god," I replied quickly, shaking my head of any mental images.

"Naruto, you're seriously losing this. Rock Lee's about to surpass you," he informed me, high-fiving someone as we walked down the crowded hallway.

"There's no way Rock Lee's not a virgin," I said, imagining the bowl-haired boy. There's just—no. I don't even want to go there. _Yikes._

"So are you. Besides, word's that he's got a pretty hot Chemistry partner whom he _may_ or may not be putting the moves on."

"I feel sorry for her," I responded, stopping at my familiar locker and spinning the code into the circular lock. Kiba chuckled.

"I've heard she's into Neji, anyways," he said, shaking his head, "Shame. Such a pretty girl."

Although I was intrigued as to who he was talking about, Ino fluttered up next to him and latched onto his arm. He almost shook her off but hesitated, letting whatever pretend innocence she had been reciting since freshman year escape her glossy lips.

"Who're you guys talking about?" She asked innocently, twisting her long blond ponytail and rocking back and forth on her heal. C'mon, Kiba, she's done this one thousand—

"—Tenten. You know, Chinese girl? Also, Karin's a whore," he spilled, grinning cockily. I groaned and turned away before I could see Ino attack Kiba's face. What a reunion.

"Tell me what you're talking about." I turned around to face the deep voice, unsurprised that it belonged to the bastard with the chicken hair.

"Why?" I replied, swinging my keys around in my hand. Wednesdays are my favorite days—no afternoon practice. I could just go home, kick off my shoes, and eat all the pizza I want. Or, sometimes, I'd hit the arcade with Sakura—although recently she's been way obsessed with that game, and therefore unable to hang out. What kind of girl plays X-box more than her male best friend? Seriously, I've never heard of a relationship where the guy has to FORCE the girl off HER X-box—

"Because I told you too." Oh right, I was having a conversation with Bastard.

"That's an extremely invalid reason," I replied, commanding my mind to stay off the distracted train. He smirked.

"Because you want too." I tensed and turned to glare at his cocky features. After few moments of intense glaring, I cracked. (What can I say? I'm weak under pressure, gimme a break.)

"Fine, damn it. Kiba calls it 'The Point System', or 'PS'. It's pretty barbaric, actually, but basically it's just the guy who sleeps with the most girls gets the most points. We've rated everyone in the yearbook on a scale of 1 – 10." I sighed at the embarrassing spill. Really, if the girls found out we were doing this, we'd get some serious assed kick. I wouldn't bee able to walk for weeks-months! Imagine the burns their hair thingys would leave on my beautiful bottom! But it's not just Kiba and I—it's the entire football team. Kiba's just _winning. _Well, closely followed by Kankuro, although I've heard he wears makeup…

"And you have a…?" I stared at him for a moment before jilting my head down at my shoes.

"0."

"Oh, really? So that pink-haired—" he stopped, and I raised my eyebrow at his pause, "—_girl_ isn't your girlfriend?" I made a face before responding.

"She's just my best friend, dude. But that doesn't mean you can put the moves on her." He now raised his eyebrow and shook his head nonchalantly.

"Wasn't planning on it."

…

-**SAKURA-**

I knocked nervously on the large wooden door, unsure if he would be home yet. I don't understand why he couldn't just drive me here with him—clearly he had a car, seeing as he didn't ride the bus (which I did; I had to ask around to figure out which one went to his neighborhood, then sat next to the driver and continuously asked about the stop. It was not a proud moment).

Finally, a voice from the inside shouted, "Come in!" and then mumbled something after that I couldn't understand. I pushed the door open lightly until I saw Sasuke on the couch and strolled inside.

"Hey," I said quietly, setting my backpack down at the door. Sasuke turned around only momentarily before facing forwards again and engrossing himself in the television. He mumbled something else as I walked towards him.

"What?" I shed my coat and set it on top of my worn backpack.

"I'm not talking to you. Hold on a sec," he said finally, releasing something from around his head and setting it on the shelf next to the TV.

"You want some water or something?" He asked. I didn't reply at first, unsure if he was actually referring to me this time. After a minute of uncomfortable silence, I snapped up straight.

"Um—yes, yeah, sure." Way to be cool.

"You uh—you play X-Box?" I asked, noticing the familiar green ring glowing from underneath the TV. His eyes looked at me without his face moving as he handed me my water.

"I don't see how that has anything to do with the project," he paused for a moment, "but yes."

What a prude. Couldn't he have just excluded that first part? Why did that need to be in the statement? It didn't, that's right.

"What uh—what's you're username? I've played a little, I'll add you," I said, sipping a little bit more of my water as if 'a little' even BEGAN to describe the hours of my life that had been unforgivingly discarded in favor of the black box. He shook his head and pointed at my accusingly, warning me.

"We are not friends. Go get your backpack and follow me upstairs." I mentally mocked him in a high pitch voice before grabbing my backpack and coat again and following him up the stairs.

…

"That's not going to be a reaction because NaCl is neutral. Pick an acid," Sasuke said, sliding the list back towards me. I groaned and closed my eyes, pointing to one.

"Magnesium Nitrate, there," I said, moving my finger to reveal the letters, "Mg(NO3)2. Write it down."

"I know what the chemical formula for Magnesium Nitrate is," he remarked, yanking the sheet out of my hand again.

"There, we have 8 equations and 16 hypothesises that should produce results," Sasuke stated, sitting back in his desk chair and setting the spiral on the table. I blinked and looked up at him.

"I um…I think it's hypotheSI, not hypotheSISES. That sounds ridiculous." He stared at me for a few moments before picking the notebook up again and slipping it into his backpack.

"English is my second language."

"And Science is my worst subject." The discussion ended there. After a few minutes of awkward silence, I stood up.

"Well, I should probably be getting home. Even though I have no idea how. Or where to go. Or what time it is—"

"—fine, I'll take you home, god." I smiled in triumph, slinging my familiar satchel over my shoulder and following Sasuke as he grabbed his keys.

…

"Thanks for taking me home," I said, unbuckling and reaching into the back to grab my backpack.

"Hn," he replied, clicking the unlock button on his door. I nodded, but hesitated before I opened the door.

"What does 'hn' mean?"

"It means get the fuck out of my car. Seriously. Go inside your home."

"'You're welcome' would have been fine," I grumbled, opening the door and letting the cold rush in. I shut it and began following the beaten path from curbside to the door before I heard Sasuke's voice again.

"Sakura," he called from the rolled-down window, "You're welcome," then smirked and accelerated down the road.

…

"It was just an after school thing, chill," I replied, my fingers moving expertly around the curved remote.

"Tomato's gonna be jealous," sang Puppet. I heard Destiny chuckle, too.

"Ah, but he was with a girl, remember?" he teased. I could feel the smirk, I swear.

"Whatever. Let's just not take the time he's not here for granted. Destiny, you go in first and—" large black letters reading 'Tomat0hn HAS LOGGED ON' faded onto the bottom of my TV. "Speak of the devil," I muttered.

"So!" Puppet said, paying no mind to the collection of enemy troops that had just invaded our base, "How was your date?"

"I told you," Tomato replied in his coined monotone voice, "she's just a friend from school."

"What were you guys doing?" snickered Destiny, "playing a board game?"

"No, it was a Chemistry thing," Tomato retorted. I froze. Tomato was—Sasuke has—chemistry—oh god.

"Ooh, Chemistry," Puppet continued, "Did you have LOTS it?"

"Shut the fuck up, you two. She's just a girl from my class had to do a project with. Her dobe of a friend said the same thing when she told him at lunch."

"You sat with her AT LUNCH? Oh, dude...oh...Cherry, you better watch it. Someone's trying to steal your man," Puppet replied, still snickered. I could hear Destiny chuckling too.

"You guys, stop," was all I said. Gears starting turning in my head, lines started to connect dots. Sasuke sat with me at lunch. Naruto got confused by the Chemistry thing. Sasuke and I worked on Chemistry together after school. Tomato logged on right as Sasuke _probably _would've gotten home from driving me home. Sasuke was on his X-box.

_Tomat0hn. _He had a bag of tomatoes for lunch and 'hn' means 'get the fuck out of my car'.

Oh god.

Although, I'm flattered I'm considered a _friend_ from school-certainly a change from an hour ago.

"I um…I gotta go," I choked out, getting the screen to display 'CherryChapstick28 HAS LOGGED OUT' before I banged my head against the couch.

…

**-SASUKE-**

I drove back from Sakura's quaint house in utter silence. I was never a fan of radio, especially American music. Not my thing.

Once I had thrown my keys back unto he counter and re-established myself on the couch, I picked up the white controller and typed in the password to my account roboticly. Why was Sakura asking about X-box, anyway? Was that her weird way of connecting? Geez, the last thing I need is more fan girls. I still get letters. Besides, I doubt she plays. Tights that look like jeans don't scream 'gamer' to me, but hey, I just got here.

'Tomat0hn HAS LOGGED ON' appeared at the bottom of the scroll list as my character faded into the landscape.

"Speak of the devil," murmured the female voice. I smirked; whatever they had been talking about was about me, which means they weren't getting anything done. My assumptions were justified when I noticed the 'completed' bar hadn't moved. **((A/N: Sakura wasn't home for very long before Sasuke got home, but he doesn't know that.))**

"So!" Puppet interrupted my thoughts, "How was your date?" I groaned, but the headset didn't pick it up.

"I told you, she's just a friend from school." Ha, friend. Except not really. More like a strangely annoying possibly-fangirl-except-she-pretends-to-hate-me. Which, in retrospect, is sort of amusing.

"What were you guys doing?" Destiny interjected, "playing a board game?" What is with these guys and the questions? There are complete branches of the American culture entirely based upon prying into the lives of complete strangers, why pick on me?

"It was a Chemistry thing," I explained, taking a sip of my Root Beer when I had finished. Cherry's character stopped moving and it occurred to me she was being uncharacteristically quiet. She didn't think this was a date, too, right? Oh, god…

"Oooh, Chemistry! Did you have LOTS of it?" Puppet said coyly. I grunted and thought of the blond kid—Nairdo? Nardo? Narido? Something like that.

"Shut the fuck up, you two," I replied, annoyed at this point (though admittedly, that's not a hard point to reach), "She's just a girl from my class had to do a project with. Her dobe of a friend said the same thing when she told him at lunch." I cringed at that last bit. Why do I insist on being vague about things? It only complicates them worse.

"You sat with her AT LUNCH?" Puppet asked, predictably. I glared at the TV, willing him to feel it. Destiny snickered from the background. "Oh, dude...oh...Cherry, you better watch it. Someone's trying to steal your man." I gagged on the sip of root beer I was drinking.

"You guys, stop," Cherry said finally, her voice melancholy. Everyone was silent for a few seconds as we took down the last of the enemies that had invaded as I logged on.

"I um," Cherry stuttered, "I gotta go."

'CherryChapstick28 HAS LOGGED OUT' appeared in the scroll list and I stared at the TV for a moment. Is everything okay…?

"Okay then, bye Cherry," Puppet mumbled. Destiny agreed with a 'tch'.

"Guys, fill in the hole from where she was," I mumbled, staring at the blank space in our circle as I watched them move to obey.

"Clearly, she was overcome with jealousy," Puppet remarked. He cursed under his breath once he realized there was an enemy right next to him.

"Puppet, shut up and focus on the game," I commanded, ignoring his jab at Cherry. Or me. I can't really tell.

She couldn't have logged off because of that, right? As I mentioned before, I REALLY don't need another fangirl, and, lets face it, in terms of girls who pretend to hate me-she probably wins the 'best actress' award. Almost makes me think she means it. Which is odd, because she actually gets some points back for that.

…

**-SAKURA-**

After hyperventilating for a few moments, pacing back and forth for almost an hour, and finally eating dinner, I came to a realization: What do I care?

Why does it matter to me if Sasuke is Tomato? They're both jerks, it's just like knowing Tomato in real life. It's not like it changes my life significantly or anything.

I mean, sure, knowing Tomato DOES change my life a little, but knowing Sasuke online? Seriously, what is bothering me so much? I've had suspicions that Neji is Destiny for a while now, but that didn't make me hyperventilate on the floor. Just a small, 'Huh,' and life moved on. So why is this one freaking me out?

Just get back on the game, make up some family emergency, and pretend nothing happened. Tomato is Tomato, Sasuke is Sasuke.

The character faded onto the landscape slowly. I took a swig of my water while I waiting, staring at the screen.

"—alk to her or something. I'm sure it has—" Puppet stopped talking halfway through his statement. "Oh, hey Cherry." Destiny coughed a little.

"Everything okay?" Tomato asked his voice still monotone. How'd I not notice before; of course that's Sasuke.

"Ye—um, sorta. My dog got its head stuck in our neighbor's electric fence," I lied, staring at the wooden fence through the back window. My eyes then retreated to the lone cat bowl sitting next to the dishwasher.

"Is he okay?" Puppet asked, his character crouching behind a rock while he talked.

"Well, kinda. We had to take him to the vet and they gave him a shot. He's not doing much now but the vet said he should be okay," I lied again. I hope that's what vets actually do. Er, I don't hope vets HAVE to do that, I just hope I'm not totally bs-ing this—you know, I just hope none of their dogs have ever had its head stuck in an electric fence.

"What a dumb dog," remarked Destiny. I should've defended this imaginary thing, but I didn't care enough.

"Must run in the Chapstick household," Tomato added. Despite myself, I smirked.

"You think my last name is _Chapstick?"_

"Do I have a reason to think otherwise? Unless it's 28."

I chuckled. "Maybe my last name is Chapstick. I could go with that."

"Actually, I think my opinion of you might rebuild itself a little if that were true. I think that'd be kinda awesome," he said. I smiled, my character crouching next to Puppet.

"Is your last name 'Hn'? What does 'Hn' even mean?" Actually, your last name is Uchiha and 'hn' means—

"'hn' means, 'I'm too cool for a real last name so back the fuck off'. Although, Chapstick might change that," he said thoughtfully, "even if Tomato Chapstick sounds disgusting."

I laughed. "It really does."

"Would you two stop flirting for a moment so we can take these guys down?" retorted Destiny. A burning sensation in my cheeks flowed up and around my nose.

"Y-yeah," I replied.

But I was smiling. I was _smiling_ at that conversation and was STILL smiling after Destiny's remark.

And I realized why I was so distraught about my epiphany from earlier—Sasuke's off-limits, but I had actually started to like Tomato. I had actually started to fall in love with the back-and-forth—the my-time-your-time way we had communicated. I was in love with a COMPUTER—a computer who was no longer a computer, but a tangible person to which I had hardly any chance of ever having. The ripped animated figure with 'Tomat0hn' over its head had transformed into an attractive guy who sat in front of me in English and forced me to do something about him.

* * *

><p><strong>And the story begins at last! Again, sorry for the horridly late update. I hope this made up for it; I rewrote it a couple times and I do like it(:<strong>

**Reviewplz?**


	4. Are you with me, Cameraman?

**Sorry about the grammer mistakes—too and to are pretty much my biggest weakness. Mostly because I used to always use 'to' by default, and now I over compensate. As for heel—I honestly didn't know it was spelled that way. Well, you learn something new every day.**

**To alayneni – Whoever said Kankuro was the Puppet Master? ;] Also, why on Earth would he have a roommate who explodes things, hm?**

* * *

><p>I paced back and forth in my living room again. Every fourth back-and-forth between the couch and TV, I ran my fingers through my hair, sometimes leaving them entangled on the top of my head for a few paces before bringing my decrepit nails back down to meet my mouth.<p>

"Cherry? You still there?" I heard Destiny call from the abandoned headset, lying on my couch. I stared at it for a second before taking a deep breath and breaking the walking cycle to pick it up.

"Yeah," I breathed, "Yeah, I'm alive. At least in RL."

"Too bad. Get in that tunnel, after those guys stop coming out, and Puppet—guard her," barked Tomato, his character motioning at the tunnel and the monsters marching out of it.

"Yeah, why are we going IN when everything is coming OUT?" I asked, phasing back into pre-epiphany mode and running my thumbs over the familiar buttons. Tomato scoffed.

"I don't know, to dance." His statement wasn't necessarily the most sarcastic thing I'd ever heard itself, but the way he said it made it seem like he'd held it's personified head under the sarcasm river a little too long and accidently baptized it into the Religion of Sarcasm so well that it stood as the Pope.

That's right. Tomato's statement about dancing in an empty tunnel is now the Pope of The Church of Sarcasm.

"There's no diamond in there, we checked awhile back," Puppet noted, upon reaching the rest of the group and recognizing the cave. There was silence from the headset while Tomato contemplated this, before grunting and replying:

"Ugh. Cherry, what do you wanna do." (I put a period there, you see, because he didn't ask me what I wanted to do: he commanded me to tell him what to do.)

…

"Oi, Naruto," I started, before taking another chunk out of my apple, "You up for the arcade this weekend?"

"Ah, I can't. Coach got mad at us for locking that Freshman in the women's sauna after the semi-finals, and he's making us do Suicides. Wish I could," he explained, flipping his head to move his hair out of his face and grabbing his burger off his plate. Sasuke's eyebrows quirked from across the table, and Kiba was just grinning.

"That was still hilarious."

"Yeah, man, but I heard Rodney's not gonna try-out next season," Naruto told Kiba, who was still busy re-hashing the hazing ritual. Naruto's comment went ignored for a few seconds before Kiba snapped back to reality and began discussing something about Wide-Receivers 1 and 2 (or something).

"Which Arcade?" Sasuke asked, looking down at his BLT and deciding to pull the bacon and lettuce out from between the slices of bread, throw them over my head, and take a bite from the now tomato-only sandwich.

"The one down south, 'Space Port,' or something cyber-y like that; I just call it 'The Arcade'. Why, you been?"

Sasuke scoffed, the typical Tomato way.

"Yeah. I have the high score on like three of the pinball machines."

"Oooh, three. I have 5," I pulled my hand in front of his face, waving my five fingers around and making an 'o' with my lips. Sasuke closed his eyes.

"What's your last name?" I choked on my rootbeer, thinking about the 'Chapstick' discussion we had last night. Of course, he thinks he had that with imaginary Cherry, but I still remember it.

"Haruno," I said simply, nonchalantly ignoring my choking. No reason to make a scene.

"So SH." Oh, initials. Like he thinks he could beat me.

"SMH, ho. That's the high score on the cowboy one, Mortal Kombat, the Simpsons one—"

"I've beaten you three times," he interrupted, picking the tomato off the bread (or rather, the bread off the tomato, considering there really was more fruit then wheat) and cramming it into his mouth.

"US?" I realized the irony; how three different worlds had suddenly collided into one boy, and how everything had started pointing at him.

"Uchiha Sasuke." There was no explanation further than that, although I knew the Japanese customs. The rest of lunch was silent, other than the sound of puckered lips and Ino's giggles, upon her entrance into the group and failed seduction of Sasuke.

…

"So we just pull the two acids together and get a non-reaction. But we still need 3 more non-reactions, and we only have 1 more Acid," I suggested, pointing at the lab book in front of him, which was backwards to me. He shut his eyes for a few moments, his eyesbrows furrowing as he did.

"Sakura," he said, still with his eyes closed, "we're diluting the acids to .5 millileters."

"Yes, but—" I was interrupted by a loud shout from upstairs, a pounding on the staircase, and an older boy walking into the kitchen.

"Sasuke, go upstairs. It's my time with the downstairs," the boy commanded, his long ponytail swishing behind him as he pulled the fridge open. Despite the malicious intent, his voice was recognizingly monotone, leading me to believe this was his brother.

"You don't take turns with floors, bastard. You take turns with assets. Use the TV, we'll use the table," Sasuke decided, turning his head away from his brother and focusing and pointing a pale finger at the notebook.

Sasuke's brother promptly walked over behind him, grabbed the back of his chair, and brought his arm down in one swoop, swinging the chair backwards too. Sasuke groped for the table with his arms outstretched, then tried to move his legs back to catch him on the ground. The latter succeeded, although it looked like he was doing an incredibly impressive limbo-move.

Sasuke, ever the cool kid, stood up smoothly as he pulled the chair off the ground and replaced the legs against the tile. He turned his head to stare at his older brother and glare cold eyes in his direction.

"What were you saying?" The comment in my direction was sudden, although there was no sense of rush in his voice. I just didn't expect the conversation to focus on me again.

"Aa, um, I was just gonna say that the acid's dilution really only makes the equations that need to react more difficult to create." The older Uchiha looked between us, but I pretended to continue staring at the paper and not notice the dark eyes jolting back and forth at Sasuke and I. I don't know if Sasuke was doing the same thing, but he didn't form his reply until his brother was completely up the stairs.

A couple of hours passed, and the only thing that we seemed to be getting through was time. His patience began to run as low as my level of concentration as I stared at the intricately designed wallpaper coated smoothly to the wall behind him. I mean, I knew he was Japanese, but the way the flowers in the corners were painted simply screamed oriental.

"Sakura! Are you even listening?" I jolted at his comment, mostly because I wasn't listening, but also at the irate tonal change in his voice. He had been so bored with the words that came out of his mouth all night that the emotion quickly lodged me back into reality.

"Aaah…" I thought about my answer for a moment; this was Sasuke, and he already didn't like me (or at least he didn't like SAKURA), so there was nothing to lose by saying that I wasn't. On the other hand, I could continue my faux-ditzy responses like, 'Yeah, but I don't get it?'. I chewed on one of the ends of my pink braids, looking down at the paper slowly before turning my eyes back to him.

"No I was not. Please insert another quarter." Sasuke's face fell against the table as soon as the words left my mouth and he groaned loudly. I must admit, a frustrated Sasuke was significantly more fun than the usual Sasuke.

"I've told you almost 15 times. At some point you must get bored with the wallpaper, right?" He asked the table, his face still planted in it. He straightened up again and ran his hand through his hair, only making the back more spiked. I started to wonder how he even got it like that; like, at first I thought it was gel because of the way it seemed to stick out the same way every day, but he ran his hand through it just now with no problem, so that must be some damn good hairspray. I suppose it could be natural, but that's just strange, no one's hair sticks out like that, especially the Japanese. Aren't they notorious for flat hair or something?

Then again, I have natural pink hair, so I'm not I'm allowed to have much of an opinion on the subject.

"SAKURA!" He yelled that time, his quick and large hand movements mirroring the anger in the shout. He exercised his fingers for a moment then stood up so fast the chair fell over (again), then paced into the kitchen.

"Let's just pick it up tomorrow or something. My mind has lost the ability to soak in knowledge."

"You can't lose something you didn't have in the first place, and you're absorbency level is about as low as glass," He muttered, returning from the kitchen and sitting back down across from me with a glass of water.

"First of all, I'm a sham-wow, okay? Secondly—" I stopped at the strange noise I began to hear. Not strange bad—strange as in new, and never heard before. It was a sort of pleasant sound. I recognized what it was suddenly, a familiar low rumble I had only heard over a headset.

Sasuke was laughing. The boy I had quickly categorized as ever-serious and never caring was actually _laughing._ At something I had said, nonetheless.

I'd heard Tomato laugh at something Destiny or Puppet had said, even something I quipped once in a while. But _Sasuke_ laughing at something _Sakura _said? I blinked at the oddity.

"A-are you laughing?"

"A sham-wow? Really? You're a sham-wow?" He was smirking, a chuckle still breathing out of his mouth after he finished talking.

"Well-I-yeah! A sham-wow, Billy Mayes and everything! That commercial is most definitely a demonstration of the way my brain takes in knowledge. I just have to, you know," I moved my hands in a twisting motion, squeezing out an invisible towel, "purge it once in a while."

He chuckled again at my hands, massaging his brow-line as he did so. "So what, you forget everything you learned?"

"Wha—no! I just store it another place, like the sham-wow does with the drain," I suggested, nodding my head at the elegant comparison. It may have been odd, but it actually worked pretty well.

"And the—" he made the same squeezing motion with the towel, twisting his hands, "is done by…?"

I shrugged. "Going to the arcade or something. I can't just sit here and look at the wall coolly like you can."

Sasuke, at this point, began putting spirals away. I'm guessing he probably realized the session was getting nowhere, because honestly, it hadn't been since his brother had retreated upstairs.

"Then let's go to the arcade."

"I—what?" I stopped talking suddenly. It was 10PM on a Thursday night and Sasuke Uchiha/Tomatohn had just offered to go to the arcade with me. Weren't Asians obligated to have no social lives? I mean, I know that's a little racist, but—

"I'm serious. We have to get this next part done by Monday, and if the only way we're gonna do that is to," he did the squeezing towel bit again, "by going to the arcade, then that's what we'll do."

"But uh, it's Thursday night. And it's 10PM," I replied obviously, padding my fingers against each other. Sasuke looked at me like I was stupid, or atleast moreso than he initially thought, before stuffing the spirals in his backpack.

"I mean tomorrow. We'll just go there after school."

I threw my pale red satchel's worn strap over my shoulder and adjusted it so the weight was comfortable. "Poor Naruto's gonna have to ride home alone."

"Who the hell cares, seriously," he muttered quietly as he grabbed his keys and I followed him to the door. The fact that he was taking me home went completely unspoken of in the car, even though he hadn't since the first session we had. I didn't even notice it's oddness until I was standing on my curb watching him drive away.

* * *

><p><strong>Aaah finally! I'm so sorry! I'm gonna try and update this as often as I can, since I'm taking a break from the SoMa one, but I've just got a lot I have to do. Blah blah excuses.<strong>

**I know this one's sorta short; I had a-whole-nother part typed and everything but realized upon re-reading that this separate part didn't fit the timeline, and therefore must wait until the next chapter.**

**In the meantime, you should all entertain yourselves by reviewing. That would be lovely.**


	5. From the Window to the Wall

**Quick that time! I told you I would try and update them sooner :D**

* * *

><p>"For real, it's getting extra weird that you and Tomato are on and off at the same times, just sayin'," Puppet remarked, the boredness of his stature coming clearly across the headset.<p>

"Puppet, shut up and play the game," replied Tomato, his character crouching behind a rock as enemies poured from the familiar cave.

My fingers grazed the small blue button for a moment before landing on the bright yellow one. "Coincidence, I guess. We both go to school, you know," I suggested, finding myself coming up with a variety of excuses to further bury any evidence suggesting I knew Tomato outside the realm of X-box live. I don't know why; I was embarrassed, I suppose, that I had lied about it earlier. Nonetheless, I quickly changed the subject.

"So does Destiny. Seriously, Puppet, what do you do for a living?" I switched the target of the conversation unto him. He groaned for an extended minute and a half before stopping to breathe.

"I'm in colleeeeege, I've told you like twenty thousand times. AND I work at an art museum during my off days," the last bit he said with a bit of pride, but I still smirked into my root beer.

"How interesting!"

"What about you, Miss Sarcasm? You're the teenage girl playing games at midnight on a Thursday night, not me," Puppet defended, the animated figure labeled 'Puppet-Master' jumping above the rock to point a gun at a stranded enemy. The bullet hit the target and the character fell against the dirt and faded away.

"Tomato and Destiny are teenagers too!" I switched the blame again, still eager to get the spotlight away from me. Destiny and Tomato both scoffed.

"The difference," Tomato began, "is that we're actually good at the game."

"Oh, you wanna go?" I challenged, jumping up from behind the rock and firing at a squad of zombie-like enemies. Tomato responded with a 'hn' and did the same.

…

**-SASUKE-**

I lifted up my bag effortlessly from my desk, swinging it over my shoulder and looping my other arm through it without second thought. Going and leaving class had become second nature, and the phase between private Japanese school and public American school was over. My longing for home had found its place in the typical American boy places such as an X-box or a girl. Though not necessarily in that order and _obviously_ not at the same time.

Though I had to admit—I did fill in sides of the conversation for Cherry and the others. A sign of insanity, I'm sure, but if I'm playing one-player mode because no one else is on I'll fill in Cherry's quips for her or Puppet's interestingly true ruminations. In my defense, they were the only people I talked to other that Madara for almost 6 months while I phased into the American school system.

My phone buzzed from my pocket and I slid it out, another second nature thing I barely thought of. Seeing as the only three numbers I had on my phone were Madara, Itachi, and Sakura, I knew exactly who it was without having to brighten the screen in the intense glare from the sun.

And then, upon reading the name and the text, found myself suddenly wishing it _had_ been the other annoyance.

'**Madara: **You need to talk to the Athletics Director about taking a sport on next year. Orochimaru-sama noted that it would look excellent on a college application to Oto.'

Using all my willpower not to reply with a snide comment like, 'who the hell cares about that freaky snake-face,' I realized that was the Sakura way and instead replied an expected 'Ok.' I would just talk to that dobe and his even dobe-ier friend about in Monday. Finally, the text I was expecting buzzed from my recently replaced phone in my pocket.

'**Sakura: **i found ur car ;)'

I looked in towards my car in the parking lot and saw the familiar pale pink head standing next to it, bending down the tie the laces of her red converse and straighten her skinny jeans as I strode over to her.

"You're a bad influence," I mentioned, referencing my thoughts about Madara despite knowing she had no idea what I was talking about.

"Did I make you get a B or something?" I decidedly ignored the chide.

…

**-NARUTO-**

"Kiba," I yelled over the increasingly loud and pulsing music, "we have training like, really early tomorrow. We really should—" I was about the play the good guy, the designated driver, and pull Kiba out before he once again gave into Ino and relapsed to her bedroom. He's a fun dude to hang out with, really—but he's not bright. Especially when it comes to girls.

Anyways, I was ABOUT TO, until I realized he wasn't listening and had instead turned his attention to the young Hinata, a quiet girl from our class who, frankly, I'm shocked was at this party. She played with the seam at the bottom of her short skirt, pulling it down as he spoke in a discrete way to knock his hands off her waist. Kiba continuously replaced them, whispering something into her neck.

"Kiba, dude, she's clearly not interested. Walk away." Kiba turned to me at this point, as did Hinata. Kiba let go of his victim, the low scowl in his throat only known by the way his teeth were barred. Hinata's eyes widened as they fell on me, then she turned red even in the dim light, and weaved quickly through the crowd. I turned my attention back to Kiba.

"Dude, what the hell. She's definitely a ten and you know that Sasuke kid's gonna threaten my top spot! I mean, I haven't heard a single chick not talk about him all night. Hinata is for real the first one, and you ruined it." I blinked at the large expanse of sensical words the tipsy boy had just uttered before forming a reply.

"You already have 56 points, and it's January. How do you expect him to catch up?" I yelled again, over the stereo. Ino fluttered up next to him, making it known she was there by gently grazing her arm against his and making eye contact for a second before pouring herself some punch.

"There are 36 more weekend nights, dude, and there's only like 4 ones at the school. S'all I'm saying," and with that, Kiba turned to face Ino, talked to her for a second, and then decided to zoom-in on her face in a very interactive way.

I shook my head slowly, spinning my keys out of my pocket and heading for the door. I noticed Hinata on the way out and nodded at her, but she simply turned red and spun around into the crowd again.

…

**-SAKURA-**

The car ride to the arcade was mostly quiet, although not the awkward gay-baby producing silence; the comfortable silence where the only interaction involved me commenting about him failing to turn the turn signal on before switching lanes. He ignored me.

We pulled into the parking lot and he yanked the parking break up as I stepped from the dark blue car and onto the familiar pavement.

"How'd you find this place?" I asked him suddenly, the thought never occurring to me earlier. I mean, it took me almost 2 years to find this, and he's been here for 6 months and already has 3 high scores (at least, he does right now…)

"Drove past it one day," was the only explanation I got. I rated it 'good enough' and followed him through the doorway.

We walked across the strangely clean carpet to the counter, where Sasuke gave the balding woman a twenty and she returned it to him as a cup of gold tokens. He handed me the cup.

"You first," he commanded, in a typical Tomato-esque way. I paused before answering.

"Did, um, did you just pay for me?" I queried, glancing at the cup, then up at Sasuke putting his wallet away. He shrugged.

"Yes?" He replied to my question like I was stupid, as if to say, 'you look like you don't have money so I helped the poor'. Despite the truth, I spent a lot of the car ride coming up with sneaky ways to take his tokens. And now that was all for nothing.

"Um, okay. Let's go play air hockey," I suggested, turning on my heal and fluttering up the small staircase to one of two air hockey tables. I jabbed 4 of the metal circles into the appointed holes and the game lit up. Sasuke took his place at the other side.

…

**-NARUTO-**

"Sakura, please, please, pick up—"

"Hey, this is Sakura; I don't feel like picking up my phone, so just hang up and I won't have to check my messages. If I don't know your name there's no use in calling because I won't call back anyway and my phone saves your number. Anyway, hang up," Sakura's answering machine rambled. I groaned into the phone and hung up, then leaned back against the seat of my car upon hitting a red-light, just far enough away from the streetlight where I couldn't see anything in the car but the lit-up controls on the dashboard.

I had called Sakura about 12 times, and she hadn't picked up a single time, nor had she responded to the 14 texts. I was forced to conclude she was playing X-box (only teenage girl more willing to play X-box than attend a party. Only her, I swear) and therefore unable to respond, so I pulled into my neighborhood with what could only have been a bored look on my face.

That is, until I noticed the police cars along my street and the numerous familiar neighbors wandering upwards to cure their curious minds. I pressed the gas a little harder and raced up the street until a police man stepped in front of me and ushered me to go a different way.

I would have, except I noticed that the police cars were all lined up in front of _my house._ Ignoring the (now angry) policeman, I left the car on and stepped right out, running past a few other cops before getting to my mother.

She looked shaken; her long red hair up into a bun and gowned in sweatpants and a T-shirt. She pushed her hair back a few times and talked with her hands to a police officer.

"Mom!" I called, jogging the rest of the way over to her from the front lawn. She widened her eyes when she saw me and enveloped me in a tight hug, rubbing my hair a few times before hushing the anxious policeman.

I slowed down for a moment and wrapped my arms back around my mother, the oddness of everything crashing down on me. Why were there policemen in front of my house? Why did my mom put her hair in a bun? Why is she being so uncharacteristically loving (she loves me, just in a _special_ sort of way—a sort of aa, _violent_ way)?

And, most importantly, where is my dad?

"Mom?" I asked, pulling out of the hug and holding onto her shoulders, "Where's dad?"

"This is your son, then?" The police officer asked, but she waved her hand and shushed him again.

She wrapped her hair behind her ear a final time before taking a deep breath. "Your dad was taken to the hospital, Naruto. About an hour ago." I rubbed my jawline and pressed my hand against my mouth. What?

"What?"

"Look at the glass in front of the kitchen." I did as I was told, peering around the side of the house to find an entirely shadowed window and broken fragments being picked up my a few firefighters. My mom looked too and continued.

"Someone was shooting at him. I know, it's a scary thought, considering how well protected this neighborhood is—or _should be—_but the investigation has only just begun. He was shot in the leg because it misfired, but it was clearly meant to be fatal," She faltered off at the end, her indifferent facts reminding her of the event and her voice cracking. I wrapped my arms around her again and held her against my chest, resting my chin on top of her head.

"Where were you?" I asked, not really expecting an answer. Clearly, however, I had been spending too much time around the silent bastard.

"In the living room," was all I got.

I rubbed the back of her head and led her back over to the police man, who was shifting his weight between legs and scratching the back of his neck impatiently. I circled my hand along her back.

"Why didn't you ride in the ambulance with him? I mean like—why are you at the house?" I didn't mean to sound so annoying, I was just sort of shell-shocked. I mean, I try to be modest, but I do live in a damn good neighborhood—my dad is the governor, after all. Our house was one of just 5 along this street, its large white structure spanning 5 acres, not including the yard.

My mom wiped her eyes with one finger and rubbed my hair. "I didn't want to see your father like that," she whispered before turning to face the policeman again.

I checked my phone's home screen, but no 'SAKURA: Missed Calls' popped up. I sighed and slid it back into my pocket before standing up straight next to my mother and glaring at the TV cameras that had recently appeared. I'd call her again when everything settled down.

…

**-SAKURA-**

I rolled the plastic steering wheel so far left that it stopped abruptly and my bright red pixelated car collided with a wall. I saw Sasuke smirk again.

"Maybe you should stick to pinball," he jeered, expertly maneuvering his dark blue car through a crowd of trees. I stuck my tongue out.

"Excuse me for not having a license," I pointed out before realizing my game was flashing 'YOU RAN OUT OF LIVES. PLEASE INSERT 2 CREDIT(S)'. I set my arms in my lap and watched Sasuke get first.

Sasuke glided across the finish line and the screen flashed 'WINNER' before allowing him to put his initials in. It was weird watching _Tomato _from the other side—from the couch, rather than from the TV.

"Okay," I decided, turning to face the rest of the arcade again, "you can pick now." Sasuke widened his eyes and retorted something like, "like I needed your permission," before walking coolly to the 'Drum Master' and throwing the padded drumsticks at me.

My phone began to buzz as I closed the distance between 'Drum Master' and I, but I didn't bother pulling it out. The last 11 buzzes had simply been Naruto saying 'HIII IM BORED' or 'KIBAS A DOOUCHEEEE LET ME TELL U A STORY', so I felt no reason to read the latest in a line of pointless texts.

Sasuke threw a drumstick in the air, and I watched it spin a few times before it landed carefully in his hands again. Show-off. I simply glared and prepared myself for whatever song he was about to choose.

* * *

><p><strong>THAT ONE WAS VERY BORING. For which I apologize. But hey, the story's moving along now, so be greatful!<br>**

**OH MY GOD, I did just post 2 chapters in one week. Hold on to your chairs.**

**Review? :)**


	6. AN: Plot Hole and Sorry

**I'm both impressed and disappointed that no one realized that Naruto's dad was dead in Chapter 1 then got shot in Chapter 5. Impressed that those of you who stuck with the story so long forgot what happened, and the disappointed that I don't pay attention to my own plot.**

**Anywho, I've gone back and edited it now, and everything should be okay.**

**ALSO - THIS STORY SHOULD START TO PUMP BACK UP REALLY SOON. I've created a plot outline, which is basically 7 pages of just plot, and all I have to do is add detail and dialogue. Also, it means the story will make sense.**

**However, I've also started a Hunger Games collaboration with a friend of mine (RL friend), but she'll probably post it on her fanfiction because she's a better writer, and she'll be writing the hard chapters (kissing, death scenes, the first chapter...) so you might not see it.**

**Hunger Games is still awesome though.**

**Sorry this wasn't a real update. Again, a real update should come REALLY soon.**

**-Lania**


	7. I Thought, This Can't Be True

**When I said soon, I meant VERY soon ;)**

* * *

><p>I awkwardly moved my hand back and forth in an attempt to wave, but it came out more as a windshield-washer-esque motion. I notice Sasuke shake his head in amusement as his car sped off down the road.<p>

My phone buzzed again from my pocket. Grunting, I lifted it from my waist and up to my face. Naruto's face lit up my screen.

"Hello?" I answered. It's 12AM, it can't be that important. Seriously, if I had to guess, he's probably tipsy and needs me to—

"My dad's in the hospital." His voice wasn't broken, or sad, but factual. Straightfoward, no beating around the bush. I widened my eyes as I retraced my steps to the front door and began lacing my converse back on.

"What? What happened?" I tried to speak calmly, but I knew this was bad. Very bad. Naruto's dad isn't just a rich suburban man; he's the governor. The frickin' governor. So it probably wasn't a car crash, or he'd have started with that. It had to have been something serious.

I know Naruto: When he gets really bad news or something really bad happens that he has to tell me about, he gets emotionless. First, he's stone cold, facts, facts, facts. He once told me he got that from his mother.

But that's not his form of coping. That's his way of getting around the stab he feels each time he retells the story. The coping is what he needs my help with; when he gets angry. Naruto has strong emotions, and the pendulum swings two ways. For instance, he didn't make the Varsity football team Sophmore year. And he told me the story of seeing Rock Lee's name on the list instead of his.

And then he broke his lunch tray in half after he couldn't get his fork package open.

Nonetheless, he answered my original question.

"Someone got him through the window. Just his leg's hurt though, and his shoulder's a little hurt from where he hit it against the countertop when he fell down," Naruto replied. His detached tone was still very evident.

"Are you at the hospital on Cobblestone?" I asked, now padding my hands gently over the lower portion of my hips where my pockets were to find my house key. I noticed the shining object on the counter and jogged over the swipe it from the granite surface.

Naruto confirmed my question with a 'yes' and I quickly snatched the printed bus schedule from its position next to the door. Not having a car requires a lot of extra effort. I scanned it half-heartedly as I walked, only trying to find when the next bus will come to the stop near my house. I find the column marked 'Senju St', indicating where my bus stop is located, and see that it is conveniently arriving in 4 minutes.

I climbed up the metal steps and sat behind a rather large woman, who continuously chanted at her phone, 'What? No!' almost the entire ride there. I glanced over once or twice and realized she was streaming Netflix. Somehow what she was doing became much more normal.

The bus pulled into the hospital parking lot exactly when the schedule said it would; 14 minutes after it picked me up. It was late, so the bus wasn't that crowded, and I had no problem worming out, but I was worried and begin to panic when I saw police lights flashing outside, so I ended up almost falling down the front steps.

I mall-walked to the front door and nearly yanked them open as they slowly slid in opposite directions, allowing me to go inside. I jogged to the nurse's station and mumbled something quickly about 'Uzumaki', but she must've known what I meant because she gave me a room number.

"Hey," I murmured, stroking my hand against the door frame as I waited for Naruto to acknowledge me. His head jerked up out of his hands, and the fluorescent light caused long, dark shadows to be stretched beneath his eyes.

"Thanks for coming," He replied quietly, his head turning back towards his father's bed. The governor's leg was pulled up, but the wound must've not yet been operated on, because the only thing covering it was a thin layer of gauze that blood had already begun to seep through. Kushina, Naruto's mother, paced along the other side of the wall, rubbing her fingers down her jawline every few seconds. She paused once to stare down at her husband, then adjusted her long ponytail and continued pacing.

"How are you?" I asked. I hesitated to put my hand on his back, and eventually decided against it. Instead, I rubbed my palms together as I slid them in between my legs and into my lap.

"I'm fine. My well-being isn't the one in danger, though, right?" He tried to sound light-hearted, and I knew he was trying to get my sympathy away from him. I pulled the corners of my lips up consciously, despite the fact that there was no humor. Tension wasn't really my thing, and neither was comforting.

A muffled radio sounded from the hall, and we both turned our heads the find the source. The noise appeared to be a police radio, and the two men who carried the device it came from sauntered into the room. Kushina stopped pacing, but Naruto and I made no movement. Naruto's face seemed interested, at least, as he yanked his eyes from his father's bed.

They asked if this was the Uzumaki's room, which Kushina replied with a firm 'yes'. They identified her as Minato Uzumaki's wife, and Naruto as his son. I was identified as a close family friend and Kushina insisted that I stay.

"The culprit," The officer started, finally getting to the occasion for the visit, "has not yet been identified, but we are working as hard as we can. The Police Department offers its apologies, and we'd like to extend that this has become the top priority of the force." When the speech was finished, the two men turned and exited the room. Kushina flopped down into a chair on the other side of the room, running her fingers through her ponytail again.

Naruto leaned his head back against a wall with a soft 'thud'. I scratched the back of my neck awkwardly, unsure of what to say, and decided looking at the ground was a good idea. I breathed a sigh and Naruto's eyes moved to me without his head following.

"Sorry," I offered lamely, trying to sound sincere. I was sincere, honestly, but I just wasn't sure saying 'sorry' to a wife and child whose husband and father (respectively) had almost been killed, only to find out that the man had gotten away. Naruto shrugged, then suddenly leaned forward onto his knees. His leg rapidly bounced up and down.

"I just don't—" he started, but stopped himself with a "gah" and shaking of his head.

"How do you lose the guy that shot the governor?" It was an incredulous rhetorical statement, not a question. He stood up and rubbed his hand frantically along his hairline. His fingers continued to move, and he cracked them in an unconsciously orderly fashion before rubbing them together.

"I just don't get it," He said finally. I reached for him at that point, imploring him to sit down, but he jerked his arm out of my reach. I opened my mouth to say something, but no words seemed right.

"I mean—I get it. We aren't the most important people in the world. And that's fine! But a _shooting victim_ in a supposedly well-protected neighborhood—isn't that ALONE enough for a better police force than the damn—" he stopped again, now moving his arms in random directions as he spoke. I jumped in.

"Naruto, they're trying their hardest. Please, give them a chance—it's been like four hours," I insisted. I knew he was about to blow-up. And it was understandable, but I might as well give it a shot.

"Four hours is more than long enough for the culprit to escape the scene of the crime," He whispered quickly. He began fidgeting with his hands again before running his fingers down his chin.

"Just—GAH!" I jumped as he violently tipped the plastic chair he was sitting on against the floor, picking it up with one hand and throwing it at the wall.

"I just don't get it," Naruto whispered again, kicking the chair as he walked into the hallway. Kushina had her mouth open like she was about to say something, but sighed instead. Her eyes fell on me.

"Could you talk to him?" She sounded melancholy and worn-out. I knew she cared about her son, but the worry about her husband and the long day had made her weary. I nodded and followed Naruto into the hallway, only to find that he had wandered outside.

"I picked the chair up," I lied, unable to come up with anything else to say once I spotted him sitting on the wooden bench next to the glass sliding doors. He mumbled a 'thanks', then slid down the bench to give me room to sit next to him. I did.

"Your dad is fine, Naruto," I said, finally deciding to set my hand on his back and gently rub my palm in circles along his spine. Naruto didn't seem to jump at the touch, so I figured it wasn't too awkward.

"Yeah, but what if he wasn't?" He spoke into his hands as he set his elbows on his knees and leaned into his palms. I continued to rub his back.

"But he is," I added, "and nobody likes 'what-ifs'." Naruto seemed unconvinced. As I mentioned, I am an awful consolidator. I leaned down to level my face with his.

"Hey, look at me," I commanded, taking one of his arms from where it was holding his head up. He dropped the other one and did as I told him.

"It's just—I keep thinking, 'What if the shot hit the mark?'. It's not so much the question of 'who?' as it is 'why?', you know? Someone's trying to kill my dad. If the police don't catch him—or them—which they haven't—then my dad might be dead. What would I do if my dad died? Who would I be forced to become? I just don't want to think about it," He spilled, lacing his fingers together and setting his chin against them, "Not the same Naruto, for sure."

"He's alright for now," I meant to continue that statement, but I realized my mistake as soon as the words spilled out of my mouth. "I mean—"

"What happens when he isn't?" His voice cracked, and I watched his face transform from a somber expression to utter sadness. His lips sagged as his eyes squinted and his eyebrows turned inwards. His shoulders moved up and down as he began to sob.

I grabbed his head quickly, pulling it into my chest as I rubbed the back of his head. Naruto tried to free himself at first, but I woudn't let him, and he let himself cry. I didn't notice my sweatshirt get damp, although I'm sure it was. I didn't really care.

I didn't say anything, mostly because I wasn't sure what to say. I'm not sure at exactly what moment he had stopped sobbing, but at some point he pulled himself from my grip and leaned against the back of the bench. I heard him mumble a thank you, or maybe not mumble, but I had already started to drift into sleep.

…

When I woke up the next morning, my head was against the side of the bench. Naruto was asleep still, his arms hung lazily around its back. I remembered that I hadn't woken up by my own means and reached for my vibrating phone to receive a text from Sasuke.

'**Sasuke: **I hope you've squeezed the coke from your sham-wow. We need to work on the project. Are you awake?'

I thought about responding 'no', but I looked at the white numbers against the black background on my phone and realized it was 11AM. At first, I was offended that Sasuke thought I wouldn't be awake, but then I remembered that I wasn't.

I replied with a 'yes', and I didn't have time to set my head down against the wooden sides of the bench again before my phone buzzed with 'omw' as a reply.

If Sasuke's house is only 15 minutes from mine, then I need to leave. Like now.

"Naruto," I shook him lightly as he raised his eyelids only enough to where he could peer through them.

"Yeah?"

"I need to get home. Mom demands I do my homework," I shook my phone in my hand. It didn't seem at all realistic, my mom reminding me to do homework at 11AM on a Saturday. First of all, I'm not even sure why she would be awake, or why she would think I wasn't going to do it later in the day. Or why I was even lying in the first place. But for some reason, Naruto believed me.

"I—um—I could drive you—" he sounded hesitant, but I wasn't sure whether or not that was because he was tired or didn't want to leave his dad. Either way, I refused.

"I'll just go check the bus schedule, it's no big deal," I reassured him, walking back to Minato's room with him before returning to the nurse's station to ask for a bus schedule. An older woman handed one to me with a smile plastered on her face.

"Thanks," I mumbled, unconsciously walking out the door with it. I scanned down the document until I found 'Cobblestone Hospital', and then discovered that the next one didn't arrive for another 30 minutes. I cursed under my breath.

Glancing up at the clock, and reviewing the path in my head, I made a rash decision. I could have called Sasuke, and told him to pick me up here, but that'd led to too many questions I'm not sure I'm legally allowed to answer; I had to be classified as a 'close family friend' just to hear them. I could've gotten Naruto to drive me, but I didn't want him to leave his dad's hospital room.

So I started sprinting.

* * *

><p><strong>REALLY boring chapter. Sorry. Mostly characterization. This was actually quite a long one, despite the lack of plot. This does tie in though. AAANDD...I'm excited because I know where this story is going now.<strong>

**You should be excited too; because it's exciting.**

**Sorry for the lack of Sasuke. Don't worry. He'll be back real soon.**

**Review because you like peanuts. Or cheese. Or cheesy peanuts. Or just random foods in general.**


	8. Fancy Meeting You Here

**Wow. Almost 2 months. I am so sorry. Seriously, seriously sorry. The only thing that really made me start again was one of my friends mentioning that a fanfiction not updated in 2 months gets sorta hard to follow. I decided to try and update more often.**

**Don't I always say that, though? **

**Anyway, this time, I hope I mean it. I'll try to mean it. Really.**

**Again, sorry. Please enjoy.**

* * *

><p>I ignored the soreness of my legs after sleeping on a bench all night. I also ignored their vehement refusal to move fast, trying desperately to continue at a rapid pace the entire 3 miles home.<p>

Because 3 miles in 15 minutes seemed a little ridiculous to begin with.

It didn't help that on my way out of the parking lot, I slammed straight into some guy. I guess he was getting into his car, because his front door was open when he toppled against the side of the back one. I stuck my hands out to avoid getting my face crushed against the cement but my foot slid out in front of me and caught me in time.

However, I was forced to stop. I caught my breath for a moment and briefly nursed my nose from where it had hit this guy's chest. He looked at me with a single red eyebrow quirked, and I attempted to judge whether or not his fiery red hair was dyed or natural. I realized I have natural pink hair and lost the argument against myself.

"Sorry," I muttered, about to start back up again. He propped his elbow against the car, holding his palm against the back of his head.

"Slow down, damn." I expecting some jackass remark, or maybe a 'I'm fine', but it almost sounded like he found this hilarious.

"Yeah, I just really need to get home and the bus doesn't come for another 15 minutes, so yeah, sorry," I probably talked so fast that he didn't hear a word I was saying, but I didn't really have time to care. I switched my weight between each foot and put my hands on top of my head.

"I can drive you, I guess," he suggested, gesturing towards the passenger side of the car. As desperately as I needed a ride, I figured it was not a good idea to get in some random guy's car that I just slammed him against. He'd probably take me to the police department. Or the loony bin.

I shook my head and wobbled my hands back and forth. I waited for him to shrug and stick one leg in his car before I took off sprinting again.

Not good. I had lost 2 minutes just standing there. Maybe Sasuke would get caught in traffic (yeah right, traffic at 11AM on a Saturday). By the time I reached what must've been the 2 mile mark, I was having to force myself to breathe and my legs kept trying to slow down. I, again, ignored them.

My feet began to falter as I cut across the grass into my neighborhood. In a true Ferris Bueller moment, I scaled my back neighbor's fence and sprinted across their large lawn, reaching the separating fence between the two yards and hoisting myself over the wooden planks.

I landed swiftly against the ground just in time to feel my phone buzz, but I didn't need to read the text to know what it said. My legs had given up, at this point, and I walked as fast as I could through my house, grabbing my backpack as I went, and out into my front yard.

Sasuke's black car was idling loyally outside the curb, and I wiped the thin layer of sweat on my forehead off with my jacket sleeve. I tried to disguise it as running my fingers through my hair, but I was unsure whether or not Sasuke was even paying attention.

"Morning," I breathed. I didn't intend for my words to come out so strained, but I had just run 3 consecutive 5 minute-miles, so I suppose it made since. Sasuke responded with a characteristic 'hn', but this didn't stop one of his eyebrows from quirking slightly upwards. I ignored the gesture, and decided not to explain why I was breathing so heavily. If he didn't ask, he didn't need to know.

He continued to glance at me the drive back to his home, his smirk growing ever wider. I think he opened his mouth to say something once, but quickly shut it and decided not to question. My breathing slowed down about halfway there, though, and I leaned my head against the leather seat, welcoming the comfort.

We arrived at his house in the same silence that had overtaken the vast majority of the car ride. I slid out of his car and was relieved to find that my legs were not ignoring my commands anymore as I followed him to his door and watched him insert his key into the keyhole.

As the door swung open, Sasuke's hand holding the corner just long enough to allow me to enter, I cast by backpack to its familiar spot on the floor and trudged into the kitchen. I noticed Sasuke's brother and another guy who was probably a friend of his sprawled across the living room furniture, eyes glued to the split-screen image on the TV.

"Dude, don't, seriously," murmured the friend. I may not have recognized him, or even the game they're playing, but I recognized the voice. From what, I cannot say. And then the red-haired man that I ran into at the hospital turned around to ask for a glass of water from Sasuke. He stopped mid-sentence.

We stared at each other for a few moments in confusion, his mouth slowly fading from a soft line to a bemused grin while my face probably contorted into what can only be described as an incredulous 'What-are-the-odds' look.

Finally, the head of flaming red-hair bursted out laughing. Itachi and Sasuke both glanced between us, clearly very lost, while I just slapped my palm against my face. He continued to laugh.

I groaned as he slowed down, but before he could get a word in, I decided it was time to start working on homework. While he was still giggling about how fate does crazy and hilarious things, I picked my backpack up off the ground and dragged it upstairs with me.

"Oh man," I heard him say from the first floor, "Sasuke, you should really tell your girlfriend to watch where she's going," again, his tone sounded light and humorous, not aggravated. My face flushed red, however, at that one stupid word, but I didn't mention it as Sasuke emerged at the top of the stairs, carrying his usual indifferent features. He didn't mention it either.

…

We worked in silence, mostly, as we always do. The project wasn't even do for another month, I don't know why we were doing so much work on it now. I thought about mentioning it to Sasuke, but my mind started deciding how that would play out before the sound escaped my throat. Sasuke would probably agree, we wouldn't talk anytime until like a week before the project would do, then we would rush it and end up with a crappy project and a crappy friendship, or whatever.

Listen to me, 'or whatever'. Holding your tongue so you can see a guy more often is so…not something I usually do. Or should be doing. I'm being stupid again. Over-analyzing. Just…do the damn chemistry assignment, Sakura, and stop trying to create bonds that don't exist.

Heh. Bonds.

I scratched another note on my spiral, my handwriting slowly curving around the already written paragraph so I know to go back and look at it later. As I leaned back to look at the mess that was my notes, I noticed my phone light up in my peripheral vision. Sasuke must've, too, because his eyes glanced quickly at Naruto's face fillinh up my screen before returning to his own notes.

"Hey," I answered softly, earning a curious glance from Sasuke. I pretended I didn't notice and instead stared out the window.

"Hey. I noticed you left. Thanks for staying the night, even if it was on a crappy wooden bench," Naruto lamented. I heard a rustle of papers in the background and a deep murmur, followed by a higher-pitch one. I guessed it was his parents.

"Yeah, no problem. Did you uh, did you just wanna call to thank me or did you have something else…?" I trailed off at Sasuke's smirk. I didn't mean for it to sound rude, or rushed, but I suppose it did. Which Sasuke found amusing.

"No, I called for a real reason. My dad's awake now, and he seems to be doing fine. My mom's pissed that he keeps making jokes about it, though." He chuckled for a moment after that. I smiled.

"That's great. I'll come by as soon as there's a bus. That's—yeah. Really good. Okay, I'll call you when I get close," I reply, sliding my Chemistry spiral back into my backpack as Sasuke watches me curiously. Naruto and I exchanged 'see you soon's and I slid my phone into my bag as well.

"Skipping out on homework?" Sasuke asked, standing up as I did. I simply nodded.

"Yeah. Naruto's going through—" I paused and allowed myself to come up with an adequate excuse, "—some stuff right now, and I promised I'd be there for him. We have a while to work on it, we'll be fine," I replied. Wow. That was not at all adequate. In fact, that's probably exactly what I DIDN'T want to say.

Sasuke grunted something about being in the middle of something, but I brushed it off. He didn't really know why I'm leaving, so I'm just gonna let him off the hook on that one.

"Whatever. I'll see you tomorrow," He replied, walking me halfway down the stairs then standing at the mid-point landing while I descended the rest. What a gentlemen.

Ignoring the fact that he expected to see me on a Sunday, I opened the door just as the red-haired guy from earlier was opening it from the other side, keys in one hand and the doorknob in the other. I just cannot get away from this guy.

"Why hello. Again. For the third time this day," He said, stepping aside to let me by, "I just came back in to grab my bag." He walked around me then scooted inside the house. I was halfway across the porch when he started talking again.

"It's a fucking purse, Sasori." Okay, so that was Itachi. But I paused at the sound anyway.

"No, it's not. It just holds my phone and wallet because sometimes my skinny jeans are too tight and can't hold anything in the pockets. This way, I can carry everything," he walked out with a small sachel slung over his shoulder. It really did look like a purse.

"Seriously, dude, it's a purse," Itachi spoke again. The red-haired man scoffed at his friend on his way out the door. He stopped his angry walk to talk to me again, extending his palm and expecting me to shake it. I did.

"Sasori," He offered, adjusting his man purse. It took me a moment to register his waiting eyes and realize he wanted to know my name.

"Aa, Sakura. Nice to properly meet you, I suppose," I said lamely. I really just wanted to get to the hospital and check on Minato (and Naruto, for that matter), not really stay and chat with Sasori.

"Where you off to this time?" He asked, walking down the porch's steps and onto the perfectly manicured lawn. I followed suit, not really sure when the next bus was coming but realizing it probably wouldn't be for a little while.

"Back to the hospital," was all I said. I was going to explain, but I wasn't sure how 'On-the-DL' the Uzumaki's wanted to keep this, and I didn't want to cause any unwarranted paranoia about an assassination.

"Er, twice in one day?" He was confused, but not surprised. "Hurt loved one?"

I shook my head, but that was the end of the discussion. I suppose he expected me to say more about who, but I did not. Instead, I began walking towards the nearest bus stop I knew, figuring I could just wait there until it came, at which point I would call Naruto, because I told him—

"I could take you, I guess," Sasori gestured to the same car I slammed him into earlier in the same manner he did a few hours ago. I shrugged. At least I knew his name now.

"And why are YOU going to the hospital again?" I asked, trotting back over to the car and waiting for the familiar machine gun-esque sound that followed the pressing of the unlock button.

"My grandma's the head nurse. I'm just going to pick her up," he explained, sliding into his driver's seat as the passenger side unlocked.

"Well uh…thank you," I said awkwardly, rubbing the back of my neck. He shrugged as he backed out of the driveway.

* * *

><p><strong>Yay Sasori :3 This chapter was a little more eventful then the last one, at least. This one had some Sakura Sasuke encounters. Next one may have gameplay again, yay :D<strong>

**Review please, and thank you!**


	9. The Question of Anonymity

**Real soon this time (: Sorry to admit that I don't have gameplay in this chapter. I was going too-but it got a little long and I didn't have room to include the segment I wanted too. Soo...it will be in the beginning of the next chapter :D This one isn't disappointing, though, and I'm sure you'll like it anyway.**

**Also-the funny will come back soon, I promise.**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not play Call of Duty or Halo. Forgive me if the references don't make sense. If you don't like it, let me know, and I'll just change it to some made-up game or something. I just don't like making things up for Fanfictions. It bothers me (in terms of characters, names, etc.)**

* * *

><p>The tension was so very, very thick, that I couldn't even come up with a good metaphor to describe it. It was just…so..silent. Sasori glanced in the rear view mirror then briefly over at me, then back out the front window.<p>

"So…" I started, "What uh…what game were you and Itachi playing?" Honestly, I didn't care, but if it got some sentences flowing through the still air, I was up for anything.

"Call of Duty," He answered. For a moment, I thought that would be it and we would simply lapse back into stillness, but he continued, "not usually my speed, though. I'm more into the Halo franchise than I am CoD or Modern Warfare. I'm guessing," he looked over at me at this point, "that you believe all first person shooters are the same, am I right?"

It took me a moment to register that he had spoken to me, and then I realized that he was insulting me. Did I look like I wasn't a gamer? I glanced down at my skinny jeans and converse, then at my hoodie. None of that seems to stick out to much…it must be the pink hair. It's always the pink hair.

"Actually," I finally answered, "I spend way too much time on Halo. It'd be paused on my TV at my house right now, but then my team may think I'm still on and keep asking me to do things with them. Of course, if they do anything without me, I'm gonna be pissed…" I trailed off then, realizing that I hadn't been on in almost 3 whole days and who knows what they had done without me. What if they beat that cave? They'd probably leveled up past me, which would suck, because then I'd have to do a bunch of solo training which always involves spending way too much on healing items…

"A girl gamer, that's cool," Sasori remarked. I almost forgot we were having a conversation. At least the air feels fresher now. We pulled into the hospital parking lot, and he pulled the key out of the ignition.

"You should add me," he suggested, searching the car for a pen but quickly giving up on the endeavor after his eyes found nothing, "Puppet-master. Look me up, seriously."

I blinked. Puppet…is…wow. So I know everyone on the team. Great. So much for anonymity. It crossed my mind that we all just so happened to live in the same area, but I always figured the game's wi-fi only went so far anyway. I suppose that's why I recognized his voice. It does make sense, now that I really consider it—he does sound quite a bit like puppet.

"I don't have to look you up," I told him, "I already know you." He cocked his head to the side, confused. I started laughing at that point, getting out of the car as I did so. He did the same, his eyes pointed down the whole time, calculating who on earth I must be. He's gotta figure it out eventually, I'm sure it's not that hard.

Once we reached the edge of the parking lot and my laughter died down, his eyes lit up and he looked over at me.

"Cherry!" Sasori finally announced, grabbing my shoulders as he did so.

"I knew I recognized your voice! Ah—I just wished I'd pieced that together sooner. It makes perfect sense, really. Wow," he said, his shoulders relaxing. His lips curved into a smug smile, satisfied with his recent breakthrough. Suddenly, he started laughing hysterically.

This time, I was confused. I watched him laugh until we reached the small doors that lead to the main lobby of the hospital, at which point he started pointing at me and trying to say something. I stopped before we entered to give him time to spit it out.

"You realize," I said, taking a deep breath to calm his laughter, "that you're actually dating Tomato, right? Or have you two just been pulling one over on Destiny and I for a while now?"

My mouth hardened into an annoyed line while I tried to decide exactly how to approach what he had just said. So, I guess he knew Sasuke was Tomato. That's weird, though, playing X-box games with your friend's brother. Whatever, I don't really care. I'm more worried about the fact that they never told me they knew each other. Like, really? Just—oh, who cares. I still have to reply to his comment, anyway.

"We're not dating, Sasori," I replied bluntly, looking down at my hands afterwards. He shrugged.

"Besides, how come you never told me you knew each other? I mean, how hard is it to just be like, 'Oh hey so Tomato and I ran into each other today…' It just doesn't seem that hard," I ranted, throwing my arms up as I talked. He blinked at me, then started laughing.

"Chill, man. It's just a game. Besides, doesn't that seem awkward to bring up in the middle of a conversation? If you had asked, I would've mentioned it. But you didn't. You never told me you and Sasuke knew each other," he responded smoothly, stroking his cheeks with his hand when he finished talking. I jutted my lower lip out, frustrated.

"Oh. I see. And that's because we DON'T really. Well, obviously, we do, but he doesn't know we do. Well, he knows me as Cherry and Sakura, but not together. I mean, obviously I can't be both at the same time, but—ugh, you know what, never mind. Point is, he doesn't know I'm Cherry, and I'd like to keep it that way."

Sasori smirked at me before turning and walking into the doors. So…he's Puppet. I guess I can see it, yeah. And his roommate is…his grandma? Somehow I can't see a little old lady constantly ranting about exploding things.

"Puppet!" I shouted, invoking another turnaround from Sasori. It took the baffled look on his face to help me realize that I had indeed just called him Puppet, but I ignored the my brain's failure to differentiate between the game and reality.

He trotted back over to me, sighing as he came.

"Yes?"

"Just wondering. Why uh, why did you say you lived with a destructive roommate if you live with your grandma?" I scratched the back of my neck, motioning for us to walk into the hospital. He followed my hands to the door.

"I never said I live with my Grandma, Cherry. Just that I'm picking her up." He patted the top of my head and walked down a hallway, simply glancing at the nurse and nodding. I strode over to her, reminded her of me, then went through the entire process of signing in again because apparently, she sees 'many people a day.' Really? How do you forget pink hair? Stupid Sasori and his stupid connections.

I followed the nurse's direction to the room, although I pretty much remembered it from the night before. It had been less than 24 hours, things don't leave my brain that quickly. Anyway, I found Naruto staring at the wall behind his sleeping mother. His father spoke softly to the doctor, explaining something about the way his leg felt. Naruto looked up at me as he entered, and his eyes seemed to relax. I noticed the bags, though.

In retrospect, I wonder why he even has bags under his eyes—we got the same amount of sleep, and from the same place. I guess it's just exhausting worrying about someone for hours on end. His mom looked like she had just fallen asleep. I guessed she passed out when her husband woke up—as far as I know, she had been awake all night long. Her uncomfortable position revealed how worn-out she really was.

"They think they found him," Naruto said suddenly, ripping me from my observations. I took a seat next to him, wincing at the cold metal of the bumpy chair. He leaned back and crossed his arms.

"The guy my mom described. They'll have to do a line-up, of course, but they seem pretty confident." I nodded, not sure what else to say.

"That's good," was all I had to offer. He nodded as well.

"Yeah." Silence filled the next few minutes. I glanced occasionally over at Naruto, trying desperately not to listen to the conversation Minato and the doctor were having. It just seemed—intrusive. The acoustics in the room didn't allow me to hear much anyway. On another glance over at Naruto, I noticed his head bobbing up and down in a falling asleep motion, so I mentioned to a nurse outside to retrieve a blanket. She came back a few minutes later to drop it off.

"Thanks," I said quietly as she exited the room. I threw it over Naruto, which surprised him. His eyes widened, then shut slowly.

"No, I'm not tired. We slept the same amount of time, I'm fine, really." He struggled to free himself from the blanket I was now pinning to his body. Eventually, he deemed the fight futile and relaxed into the thin cotton. Successful, I sat back into my chair.

"I saw you nodding off. Seriously, sleep," I commanded, pulling the blanket back up to his shoulders when he tried pushing it off to the ground. He grumbled something and accepted defeat, tightening the blanket around his arms and resting his head against the wall. A few googled 'logo quiz' answers later (what? You can't expect me to know that 2 weird black waves is billabong. I'm a gamer, not a surfer!), I noticed his soft, constant breathing and guessed he was asleep.

"Naruto?" I whispered, waving my hand in front of his face. No response (good).

So…I guess I'll just sit here awkwardly. I attempted a few more answers on logo quiz, only to be denied and grow tired of the level. I scrolled through facebook, but remembered that I had no real friends other than Naruto, and the only people that bothered friending me were out doing something (or someone) else on a Saturday night.

Instead, I sat in silence, again trying not to listen to Minato's conversation. How long had the doctor been in here? I've probably been here for a good half an hour now, pretending not to listen to what they're saying. Why am I still here? What am I waiting for?

"Thanks for coming by, Sakura." The voice was the governor's. The doctor had finally left the room, though I had spaced out long enough not to know why.

"Uh..yeah. It's not a big deal, I wasn't doing much," I lied. It's really just a fancy your welcome anyway, right? Besides, the homework could wait. Naruto's dad was in the hospital for Pete's sake.

"You know, Kushina told me that you stayed the night for him. Thanks for that, really." I thought he was going to launch into some form of 'The Bird's and the Bee's', but thankfully, he did not.

"You ran home, right?" I nodded. "Yeah, Naruto told me about that. Although Naruto wouldn't admit it, Kushina said he felt so guilty about making you run all the way home that he drove to your house about 30 minutes later, but your mom said you'd come and gone," He looked thoughtfully down at his pudding cup when he finished talking. For a moment, I thought I was being called out on a lie, but the ghost of a smile on his lips proved me wrong.

Silence filled the air between us for a few moments, which I was about to utilize and leave before he said something that made me feel guilty.

"He really cares about you, you know," too late. "And I'm glad you don't take advantage of that. Truly, I'm grateful that he hangs around with you more than he does Kiba. I don't think I could've picked a better friend for my son. I don't know how you feel about him, but thanks for not manipulating him or anything."

Cliché compliments aside, I still felt guilty. His father basically just spelled out that Naruto was in love with me, when I had never really looked at him as more than a friend. I mean—parents always think you're in love with someone of the opposite gender the moment they walk through the door, or that they're in love with you—but for some reason, coming from Minato, it sounded sincere.

But the whole friend-zone thing isn't what made me feel guilty. Sure, I wasn't using him or anything—it's just that I had been lying to him about the whole Sasuke/Tomato situation—or just Sasuke in general. And I felt the sudden realization that I hadn't spent enough time with him lately. I pretended to check my phone, feigning that I'd gotten a text that demanded my presence at home. I wished Naruto's dad a speedy recovery and asked for a bus schedule while I walked by the front desk.

* * *

><p><strong>Okay, so, boring chapter. More Sasori though, yay :D buut no Sasuke. Sorry chillens. Next chapter, I promise, will include Sasuke. Lots o Sasuke. And lots o plot, but good plot. And answers. You'll get what you want!<strong>

**So... R&R (:**

**((You're lucky my scanner's broken, or I probably wouldn't be writing. Just...be grateful.))**


End file.
